Increasing maltiness in Aussie PAs

[stux]

Entered some Aussie Pales in the ESB comp and got a couple of gongs - much appreciated. Got scoresheets back yesterday and the criticism from all the judges was "lack of maltiness". I used domestic malt, actually the last of my JW Ale, plus a smallish proportion of wheat malt. I would imagine that's very similar to what Coopers uses.

The common wisdom is to mash at low 60s for this style and I wonder if this could account for the low malt notes.

Just ordered a sack of UK Simpsons Maris Otter and wondering about using it in a comp Australian Pale Ale I'll be brewing next week, with perhaps half a kilo of wheat malt. Anyone use UK base malt for Coopers style clones? I'll suck it and see anyway.

If I wanted a bit more maltiness in an Aussie Pale Ale, I'd just throw in a bit of Munich. Anything else will either be too sweet, or will change the character too much (like using an english malt)

 

[Bribie G]

Just ran out of the last of my Melanoidin which could have done something similar :huh:

 

[manticle]

As a whacky idea -keep the au base but try a decoction.

 

[///]

Ahh come on manticle, a learnered gent as yourself knows better ..

 

[Tony]

Aussie Ale malt, 5 to 10% JW caramalt and 1272

I really doubt coopers ..... or any large comercial brewing venture uses the malts available to us home brewers.

They would have a custom malt made to their specifications to make the beer they want to make

 

[manticle]

Ahh come on manticle, a learnered gent as yourself knows better ..

I think the results might be interesting.

Obviously I don't believe it's key to a decent AU pale - my earlier post sums up what I think is happening there.

 

[jyo]

No expert at all, but I recently brewed a double batch of ANZAC ale, one cube using Coopers recultured, the other using British Ale II. Galaxy malt, 10% Munich II, 10% sugaz 10% Oats, POR, 29 IBU

While the cube fermented with British Ale only finished 1 gravity point higher than the coopers, the former seemed substantially maltier. We all preferred the British Ale hands down.

I think you guys are on the money with some perceived maltiness derived from yeast.

 

[///]

Using cacl2 with soften any huge hit of hops

Aussie malts are not made for all the deco toon jiggers pockery, could be fun but not that much gain. Big brew houses may not have all the fun, but all us smaller guys do ...

 

[Bribie G]

Thanks for the explanation /// - actually one of the entries was criticised for bitterness and I'd snuck in a bit of Magnum for a background bittering then a fair bit of POR later to help with that "coopers whiff" you get when you pop a Sparkling. I'd used Sulphates - will try the CaCl2 next batch.

Would London ESB be a good malt- accenting yeast? Have a pack in the fridge right now.

 

[manticle]

could be fun

Entirely what I meant by it - was a late night 'wonder what that would be like' scenario rather than a 'do this for your next comp' suggestion

 

[warra48]

Would London ESB be a good malt- accenting yeast? Have a pack in the fridge right now.

If that's WY1968, or the WL equivalent (if there is one) , then yeah, it will certainly accentuate maltiness. Needs a real kick up the proverbial to get it to finish, and for me it kept slowly building carbonation in the bottle for months.

 

[slash22000]

Here's a thought. Have you tried roasting base malt?

I'm making a pale ale this weekend with ~10% home-roasted base malt instead of Munich/etc, just 15 minutes in the oven at 180ºC, supposed to give a good malty, nutty tone similar to biscuit malt without being "sweet". Anything longer than 15 - 20 minutes you're going to get more of a "toasted" flavour, but 15 is apparently the sweet spot for giving an interesting malty character without going into the darker malt characteristics.

Kitchen smelled great after the roasting. :lol:

 

[///]

Entirely what I meant by it - was a late night 'wonder what that would be like' scenario rather than a 'do this for your next comp' suggestion

New that brother - but as the Aussie Malta are relatively low in nitrogen and highly converted decotions can affect head quality ... I'm sure that is right ... Will see if I can double chdck

 

[manticle]

Well that's something I didn't know as I rarely use AU malts. Good to learn new shit.

A while back I was interested in the idea of using domestic ingredients to make an aussie lager but use German techniques to make it more complex. Never quite did the whole thing but maybe if I get time and inclination, i'll try JW or BB, traditional decocted step mash, PoR and danish lager yeast some time in the coming months.